Jake Osuna manages his epileptic seizures and lost 25 pounds with the ketogenic diet and ketone supplements. (Photos: Facebook)

The low-carb, high-fat ketogenic diet has been hailed for its efficacy as a weight loss tool, but ongoing clinical and anecdotal research shows keto also prevents seizures better than drugs in many epilepsy patients.

Jake Osuna, age 10, experienced a dramatic reduction in epileptic seizures after adopting a ketogenic diet in which he consumed 88% fat, 10% protein, and 2% carbs.

The ketogenic diet is a low-carb, high-fat, moderate-protein diet that has been shown to fuel rapid weight loss by forcing the body to burn fat for fuel in a state called ketosis, said Dr. Eric Westman, co-author of Keto Clarity.

In addition to its weight loss benefits, ketosis has been shown to control epileptic seizures in both children and adults.

Osuna, who was diagnosed with epilepsy at age 4, once suffered hundreds of seizures a day. After adoping the ketogenic diet (combined with a ketone supplement called Pruvit, Jake’s seizures tapered off dramatically. He lost the 25 pounds he gained as a result of epilepsy drugs.

“Since adapting to the LCHF ketogenic lifestyle and the use of therapeutic ketones, I am happy to report that Jake’s seizures are hardly noticeable and he is a completely different kid!” Jake’s mom, Lisa Osuna, wrote on Facebook. “He’s now down 25 lbs.”

Jackson Small, a 12-year-old boy, has been seizure-free for four years after adopting a keto diet in which he consumed up to 90% fat.

Typically, you have to follow a ketogenic diet for 2-5 days before your body enters ketosis, a metabolic state where you use ketones in the blood (as opposed to carbs) for energy. But Pruvit manufacturers say its supplements can put you into ketosis in just 59 minutes.

Jake Osuna’s success with the low-carb, high fat ketogenic diet isn’t unique. Charlie Smith, an 8-year-old British boy, said keto completely changed his life.

Charlie used to suffer up to 300 epileptic seizures a day, but has not had a single seizure for the past 3 years since switching to the keto diet, as Celebrity Health Fitness previously reported.

Charlie Smith used to have up to 300 epileptic seizures a day, but has been seizure-free for 3 years after switching to the keto diet. (Photo: Smith family)

“The ketogenic diet has changed our lives for the better,” said Smith’s mom. “As soon as Charlie switched to it, it was as if a cloud had been lifted. It’s a miracle.”

Researcher Thomas Seyfried of Boston College was among the first to advance the theory that the ketogenic diet can prevent and manage metastatic cancer.

Cancer scientist Dr. Thomas Seyfried told Examiner his decades of research at Boston College indicates cancer is a metabolic — not a genetic — disease that can be treated through metabolic diet therapy.

“The ketogenic diet is a single metabolic approach to a multitude of different diseases,” said Dr. Seyfried. Seyfried’s ground-breaking study with Dr. Dominic D’Agostino of the University of South Florida Medical School was published in the medical journal Carcinogenesis.

Dominic D’Agostino and Angela Poff doubled the survival time of mice with metastatic cancer using a combination of the keto diet, ketone supplementation, and hyperbaric oxygen therapy. (U. of S. Fla.)

Scientists say this is because nearly all the healthy cells in our body have the metabolic flexibility to use fat, glucose and ketones to survive, but cancer cells lack this metabolic flexibility and require large amounts of glucose and cannot survive on ketones. So by limiting carbohydrates in our diets, we can reduce glucose and insulin and restrict the primary fuel for cancer cell growth.

Dr. Seyfried says the time has come for the medical community to acknowledge the usefulness of the ketogenic diet as an inexpensive, non-toxic way to treat cancer. “The ketogenic diet may one day replace the standard of care for most cancers,” he said.